I snorted, because it truly depended on the people you happened to be working with. Sometimes, they understood you were human beings and not just money-making machines, and sometimes they expected you to eat, sleep and breathe finance. Either way though, your job better get done properly. ‘Georgina’s not a fan of work-life balance, I take it?’
‘I swear the moment I mentioned I’d need paternity leave, she mentally dug my career grave and composed me a eulogy.’ He squinted and pinched his t-shirt to lift it away from his chest. ‘How are you getting along with her?’
‘Not as well as I think she’d like,’ I admitted. I was avoiding her as much as I possibly could. Every time she cornered me in the office, I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes trained on us, ready to pick up any little detail they could gossip about and it didn’t help that she never failed to take an opportunity to touch me.
‘Yeah. I noticed that. Must be tough to have a powerful, attractive woman pursuing you not so subtly.’ He winked and I gave an exaggerated roll of my eyes. ‘Shall we head back up to the sea glass carousel?’
And just like that Elle and fairgrounds and kisses that I wished I could have done right were back in my head.
‘Sure. Let me just be a tourist a second.’ I pulled my phone out and took a panoramic shot, that I’d send to Nick when I figured out what time-zone he was in. As I captured the photos, my stomach squeezed at the intrusive thoughts about my father, possibly heading back the way he’d come. What if after his lastbreak up he’d high-tailed it back across the pond to England? Or somewhere else.
It’s possible, but it’s also possible he’s still in Brooklyn, and we won’t know until Ken’s done his check, a voice in my head that sounded suspiciously like Elle’s pointed out.
‘In all seriousness,’ Patrick said when I put my phone away and we started jogging again, ‘Georgina can be unpredictable. Tread carefully there if you can. You might only be here for a couple months but she can make those weeks hell if she has a mind to.’
Little did Patrick know that Georgina was just one more awkward ingredient thrown in the pressure cooker that was my summer in this city.
Still, I was glad that the long weekend to celebrate Independence Day had gifted me with an extra day out of the office. I’d worked through most of it, and then on the Saturday — which was actually the Fourth of July — had nothing to do but stay at home, do more work and catch up with everyone back home.
After ringing my nan, I braved calling Nick. I’d been giving him small updates about the search, to reassure him things were in hand, but not getting into in-depth discussions about it, so I arranged to talk to him while we played GTA across the network on our Play Stations.
‘Wow, so this could be it? Will you go straight to see him, or would you like to wait until I’m over, so I can come with you?’ Nick asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I hedged; a flat-out ‘no’ would just open myself up to an argument. ‘I have no idea how long it will take Ken to find an opportunity to do the search. Obviously he has more important things to focus on.’
‘Of course.’
His easy acceptance reassured me somewhat that he hadn’t been thinking of it as an opportunity to do something for Mum, like my conversation with Elle had made me worry.
Nick was trouncing me in the game, constantly blowing my head off the second I’d respawned, but since his job relied on him being able to hit the right buttons at the right time, with superior hand-eye coordination, I had to take it on the chin. When I caught him off guard, blasting his avatar into a building and crowed in triumph, he groaned.
‘Beth just came in. I was distracted.’
‘Excuses, excuses.’
‘Oh, hang on a second…’ I could hear Beth in the background and Nick answering her, his voice muffled against the mouthpiece. ‘Yeah, sure.’ He came back on the phone. ‘Beth wants to speak to you.’
I paused the game as there was more shuffling around and she came on the phone. ‘Hey, Stephen.’
‘Hey, how are things? I’m three episodes behind onAbove Boardso if this is about something that has happened, no spoilers!’
‘No, I was just wondering if you’ve been in touch with Elle, recently? She sent me a message last weekend saying she wanted to talk to me, but I haven’t been able to get hold of her since?’
‘I haven’t spoken to her recently but I assumed that was because of her deadline…’ I chewed my lip, my throat tightening. That didn’t sound like her. She tended to keep her phone on vibrate but even if she was busy, she always either answered or sent a message to say she’d be in touch soon. I’d seen her do it often enough when her family were inundating her with messages. Some people left you on read and that was OK, it was just their style - but it wasn’t Elle’s. Especially if she was the one that reached out in the first place.
‘Yeah, I know she’s probably just locked in, but it seems weird because the message she sent me sounded so urgent. It’s like her phone is permanently switched off.’
‘It’s going straight to voicemail?’
‘Uh-huh. For a few days now.’
‘D’you want me to go over and check that she’s OK?’ I was already standing up.
‘Oh, would you?’
‘It’s no problem. She doesn’t live far from me.’
‘You’re a star, thank you. And then you get caught up on those episodes because Ineedto tell you what Beau’s done now.’
